Llamas and Detours (18)

I made the mistake of washing clothes just before dark last night, and found them still soaking wet this morning. So we took our time to give things a chance to dry out in the early morning sun.

We continue to strive to be efficient and leave camp quickly in the mornings but haven’t figured it out yet. Eventually we’re hoping to need less than an hour to break down camp and start riding.

It’s apparent that we’ve left the Lake Erie region, as we climbed for the first few miles of the day. Once it leveled out, we found farmland and empty roads with a cool morning breeze.

A group of llamas cheered us along as we pedaled.

We passed another bicycle touring couple who were on their way to Niagara Falls this morning, but they seemed in a hurry so we didn’t get to hear their story.

Lunch was had in Diamond Park in Meadville, PA. Another kind stranger, Ray, paid for our lunch at a local sandwich shop (“The Whole Darn Thing”) with the suggestion that we pay it forward.

This afternoon we suffered through a detour which was at least five miles long and got us only a mile further along the route. We made a pit stop during the detour for a long dog and ice cream to lift fading spirits. Afterwards, it looked like rain but luckily it was a bluff.

We finally rolled into a KOA campground around 9pm. Hopefully tomorrow we can manage to start earlier, because I don’t want to make a habit of riding until dark!